EXCLUSIVE: A heart-wrenching documentary that’s also part 1950s game show (Queen for a Day, anyone?), Amanda Micheli’s Haveababy, which premieres tonight at the Tribeca Film Festival, takes viewers into the frustrating, risky and expensive world of in-vitro fertilization via one of the more bizarre ideas out there. The Oscar-nominated filmmaker follows several couples desperate to conceive but struggling with infertility and the high cost of treatments. They place themselves in the hands of Las Vegas doctor Geoffrey Sher and enter his annual contest offering a prize of a free round of in-vitro fertilization treatments, with no guarantee of pregnancy. Contestants post video entries online telling their stories, counting on the votes of strangers to make their dreams of becoming parents true. Watch an exclusive clip above.

Exposing private pain online to win a contest may be a brutal proposition, but many infertile couples see this as their only way to afford the costly treatment. Micheli navigates the complexities of America’s burgeoning fertility industry and paints an intimate portrait of the many resilient individuals – from a working-class, biracial couple in Green Bay to a lesbian Lady Gaga impersonator in Manhattan – determined to have a baby against all odds.